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THE KICKOFF
Rensselaer hosts its home opener against the Saxons of Alfred on Saturday at noon. The Engineers began the 2014 campaign with a 29-9 win at Norwich University last week. RPI was 5-5 in 2013, the first year under head coach Ralph Insernia.
 
Alfred, which has a new head coach in Bob Rankl, won its season opener last Saturday, a 34-17 victory over Husson. The Saxons are coming of a season in which they went 8-3 and won the ECAC Division III North Central Bowl Championship.
 
THE SERIES
This is the 19th all-time meeting between Rensselear and Alfred, with the Saxons holding a 12-6-0 advantage in the series. The programs met in 2013 for the fourth straight year, with the Engineers coming away with a 24-21 win.
 
HOME OPENERS
In the last 10 years, RPI is 7-3 in its home openers. The Engineers have won three in a row and six of their last seven to begin the home slate. They have met Alfred once in that span, winning 24-6 in 2012. Since moving to the 5,200-seat East Campus Stadium at the start of the 2009 campaign, RPI has posted a 4-1 record in home-opening games.
 
BREAKDOWNS
The Engineers return 15 starters (7 offense, 7 defense, 1 special teams) and 36 letter winners. There are 42 newcomers. On the offensive/defensive two-deep, which is the same as week one, there are 10 seniors (5 offensive), 18 juniors (9), 12 sophomores (6), three freshmen (1) and one grad student (1).
 
ALL-TIME HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Engineers have faced Alfred 18 times with the Saxons holding an 12-6 edge ... The first meeting was October 3, 1936, a 14-6 Rensselaer victory in Troy ... Alfred went on to win 11 of the next 12 meetings between 1937 and 1973 ... Rensselaer has won four of the five meetings since the two teams started playing one another again ... Three of the wins came in Troy, while the loss was at Alfred in 2011.
 
IN 2012: Rensselaer's defense intercepted three passes and registered four sacks to lead the Engineers to a 24-6 win over the Saxons in the season opener for both teams ... After Alfred scored on its opening possession, the Engineers did not give up another point on its way to allowing the fewest points since October 10, 2010, when they shutout Rochester ... It was the fewest points allowed at ECAV Stadium since the opening game of the facility, September 12, 2009 - a 28-0 win ... Senior linebacker Matthew Day led RPI with eight tackles, while classmate Joe Tedder had six solo stops, an interception and a pass breakup ... Three different players had interceptions, including sophomore Nick Borkowski, who picked off a pass at the 4-yard line and returned it 80 yards with RPI ahead 14-6 ... Offensively, senior quarterback Mike Hermann compiled 277 yards of offense ... He rushed for a game-high 80 yards and completed 17 of 26 passes for 213 yards with two touchdowns ... His primary target was junior Reggie Colas, who had six receptions for 90 yards - both game-highs - and a touchdown.
 
FORMER LEAGUE FOES: Rensselaer and Alfred were once both members of the ICAC ... They met five times in football while in the same conference with the Saxons winning each of those meetings (1969-73).
 
GAME OF SIGNIFICANCE: The 2008 game between the Engineers and Alfred was an ECAC Championship Game, which RPI won 34-31 in Troy ... It was also the final football game played on '86 Field, which was Rensselaer's home turf for a century before RPI moved into the state-of-the-art East Campus Stadium in 2009.
 
RPI LAST WEEK: The Rensselaer defense allowed only 45 rushing yards, intercepted three passes and gave up just nine points in a rainy season opening 29-9 victory at Norwich University at a rainy Sabine Field ... Ten student-athletes collected mulitple tackles in the win, including junior Mark Grimes, who also scored on a 20-yard interception return ... The Cadets managed just 187 yards of total offense, while RPI gained 323 total yards ... RPI junior quarterback Jeff Avery ran for a touchdown and threw for another to lead the offense ... Norwich got on the board first with a field goal, but RPI answered right back when Avery hooked up with junior running back Austin Amery for a 20-yard touchdown pass on 3rd and 12 to give the Engineers a lead they would never look back from ... RPI worked methodically on its next possession, marching 59 yards on eight plays in 3:06, capped off by a 14-yard QB draw from Avery right down the middle and into the end zone to increase the lead to 13-3 ... Franks then hit a 22-yard field goal to make it 16-3 with 7:34 to play in the half ... Grimes' interception return for a touchdown midway through the third quarter prompted Norwich to pull its starting quarterback ... In addition to Grimes, sophomore Ryan Buss and junior Brandon Cook also had interceptions in the victory.
 
BALANCED: Rensselaer had 17 first downs against the Cadets last week, a 29-9 win ... Nine were passing and eight were rushing.
 
DEEP: In last week's 29-9 win at Norwich, RPI had seven different ball carriers, five different pass catchers and nine different players record at least two tackles.
 
FRANKS HONORED: The Liberty League's weekly awards in football included Andrew Franks, RPI's senior kicker/punter ...  He made 3 of 4 field goals, had six touchbacks in seven kickoffs and punted for 228 yards on six attempts in the Engineers' season-opening 29-9 win at Norwich ... He made field goals of 22 yards, 35 yards and 32 yards ... Kicking off, he averaged 64 yards per attempt with only one of his seven being returned ... While punting, Franks had a long of 48 yards with one kick that landed inside the 20-yard line and only one that went for a touchback.
 
ALFRED LAST WEEK: The Saxons racked up 439 yards of offense and held visiting Husson to under 200 in a 34-17 victory in the season opener for both teams ... AU sophomore quarterback Tyler Johnson completed 18 of 24 passes for 297 yards and five touchdown passes ... Sophomore wideout Brendan Buisch caught five passes for 86 yards and a pair of TDs ... Junior middle linebacker Corry Wallace had a game-high 11 tackles (two for loss) and senior cornerback Mike Perkins had five solo stops and an interception to lead the AU defense, which gave up 10 of Husson's 17 points.
 
BACK & FORTH: The schedule has RPI alternating between road games and home games throughout the entire year ... November 1 is the Engineers' bye.
 
TEN-GAME SLATE: This year marks the second straight, and second in the last 27, that Rensselaer is playing a 10-game regular season schedule ... RPI was 5-5 under then head coach Kevin Earl in 1987 ... The Engineers were 5-5 last season.
 
COACH I: The Engineers are led by second-year head coach Ralph Isernia, who joined the Institute from Ferrum in Virginia in March 2013 ... He is a veteran of more than 20 years in collegiate coaching at a variety of levels ... Isernia (pronounced EYE-sern-ee-ah) was the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator at Ferrum for two seasons ... He spent the six years prior at the University of Charleston, where he was an assistant head coach, the offensive coordinator and interim head coach ... He has also coached at Bucknell (2004-05), Mansfield (2001-04), Defiance (2000-01), Methodist (1994-00) and Western Connecticut State (1991-94).
 
TEAM CAPTAINS: Graduate student Reggie Colas and senior Nick Borkowski are the team captains for the 2014 Engineers ... Colas, a running back, returns to the field for RPI after missing last season with an injury, while Borkowski, a defensive back, suits up for his fourth varsity season after earning All-Liberty League First Team honors as a junior.
 
COACHING CHANGES: Head coach Ralph Isernia has several new assistant coaches ... After four years as offensive coordinator at Bates College, Daryle Weiss takes on the same duties with the Engineers ... Also joining the staff is wide receivers coach Billy Bonneau, running backs coach Steven Harris and defensive backs coach Ryan Turnbull.